Batting tees are well known in the art for use in instructing and improving a baseball player's batting ability. Most existing batting tees have a base member constructed in the shape of a home-plate, with a ball supporting post or "tee" extending up from the base member upon which a baseball or the like to be batted is supported. The tee usually has some type of telescopic construction which enables the height of the ball to be adjusted to simulate high and low pitches, as well as to compensate for different sized players or batters.
Many existing batting tee designs attach the tee in the center of the base member thereby permitting a batter to contact the ball in a limited number of positions which vary only in height. Other batting tee designs have variably adjustable tee members which permit a batter to contact the ball at various points relative to the base, with some batting tee designs even allowing contact at virtually any point relative to the base.
With this in mind, it has long been established that the best place to hit a baseball is on the "sweet spot" of the baseball bat. Although the bat itself usually ranges from 28 to 34 inches in length, the "sweet spot" 12 of a baseball bat 10 covers only about six inches as shown in FIG. 1A. The goal then, for a batter, is to swing the bat 10 such that the sweet spot 12 of the bat 10 contacts an incoming pitched ball 14. The problem, however, is that there is a precise, optimal location relative to home-plate 16 for contacting the pitched ball 14 with the sweet spot 12 of the bat 10, this precise, optimal location being dependent upon where the pitched ball 14 is located relative to home-plate 16.
The assumption that a batter should hit the ball when it's "over-the-plate" has been found in many instances to be untrue, especially if the ball is pitched toward the inside corner of home plate (the side of the home plate closest to the batter). In FIG. 1A, which depicts the case of a right-handed batter, if the batter waits to hit the inside-pitched ball 14 until after it crosses over the plate 16, the batter will contact the ball 14 very weakly on the narrow part 18 of the bat 10. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1B, the only way to hit the inside-pitched ball 14 with the sweet spot 12 of the bat 10 is to make contact with the ball 14 before it crosses over home-plate 16. The result of this ideal contact, is that the inside-pitched ball is hit solidly and is "pulled" down the left-field line.
In the case of a ball 14 pitched toward a right-handed batter in the middle of home-plate 16 as shown in FIG. 2A, although baseball experts will correctly argue that this pitch can be hit to all fields, if the batter waits to hit the ball 14 until after it crosses over the plate 16, the batter will again contact the ball 14 weakly on the narrow part 18 of the bat 10. Consequently, the best place to make contact with the ball 14 is just out in front of the home plate 16 as depicted in FIG. 2B. This is because the batter has more power as the batter's arms can be extended to hit the ball 14 directly on the sweet spot 12 of the bat 10. Notice that the angle of the batted ball 14' goes toward left-center field, which has long been called the "power alley" for right-handed batters.
Only in the case of a ball pitched toward a right-handed batter at the outside corner of home-plate (the corner of the plate farthest from the batter), is the assumption that a batter should hit the ball when it's "over-the-plate" more or less true. Many baseball coaches tell their players to "wait on" outside pitches or "go the other way," i.e. hit the outside pitch to right field (in the case of right-handed batters). The reason for this advise relates to hitting the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. As depicted in FIG. 3A, if a batter swings too soon at the outside-pitched ball 14, for example, as the ball 14 just crosses the leading edge the plate 16, the batter will contact the ball 14 with the end 19 of the bat 10, and hit a weak grounder or pop-up to the shortstop. If, however, the batter hits the ball 14 just as it crosses the back outside corner of home plate 16 as shown in FIG. 3B, the batter will contact the ball 14 with the sweet spot 12 of the bat 10 and drive it to right-center field.
Thus, a batter can optimize his or her batting skills by contacting the ball at a precise, optimal location which varies according to the location of the pitched ball, so that the sweet spot of the bat is always used to hit the ball. This being the case, it would be desirable to train batters to swing and hit pitched balls only along this line. However, prior art batting tees are not capable of such training since, they either position the ball only over the center of the base or allow unlimited ball placement anywhere in front of and/or over the plate. None of the prior art batting tee are known to only place the ball along an optimal line of contact.
Accordingly, there is a need for batting tee that trains a batter to contact a pitched baseball only along an optimal line of contact.